Systems and methods for generating for display recommendations that are temporally relevant to activities of a user and are contextually relevant to a portion of a media asset that the user is consuming

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided herein for displaying recommendations that are temporally relevant to activities of a user and are contextually relevant to a portion of viewed media. This may be accomplished by a media guidance application identifying activities a user has planned, as well as respective times for which each of the plurality of activities was planned to be performed by the user. The media guidance application may filter the activities by determining which of the first plurality of activities has a corresponding respective time that is within a threshold period of time. The media guidance application may then identify characteristics of each filtered activity and of a media asset that the user is consuming at the present moment, and may compute whether the characteristics match. If the characteristics match, the media guidance application may generate for display a recommendation relating to the respective activity.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for generating media content recommendations, the method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of activities, wherein each activity of the plurality of activities occurs at a geographic location and time; 
 retrieving a first plurality of characteristics of a first activity of the received plurality of activities; 
 determining that a media asset is currently being displayed, wherein the media asset is associated with a second plurality of characteristics; 
 determining a number of characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics, wherein the number of characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics corresponds to one or more characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics that match one or more characteristics of the second plurality of characteristics; 
 comparing the number to a threshold; 
 determining, based on comparing the number to the threshold, that the number exceeds the threshold; and 
 in response to determining that the number exceeds the threshold:
 determining a media content recommendation, wherein the media content recommendation is associated with a third plurality of characteristics and at least one characteristic of the third plurality of characteristics matches a characteristic that the first plurality of characteristics and the second plurality of characteristics have in common; and 
 generating for display the media content recommendation. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of activities is associated with a profile of a user. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein determining that a media asset is currently being displayed comprises:
 receiving a selection of the media asset, wherein the media selection is associated with an account; and 
 determining that that account is related to the profile of the user. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein determining the number of characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics is in response to determining that the account is related to the profile of the user. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the plurality of activities further comprises:
 identifying a plurality of non-media guidance applications that are associated with a profile of a user; 
 querying each non-media guidance application of the plurality of non-media guidance applications for information relating to the plurality of activities; 
 receiving, in response to the querying, information about an activity of the plurality of activities that the user has planned to participate in; and 
 adding the information to the plurality of activities. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein querying each non-media guidance application comprises querying at least one of planning or conducting a travel activity, attendance at an event, content browsing, or messaging communications. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the media asset is currently being displayed further comprises receiving a fourth characteristic associated with a portion of the media asset. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the number of characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics corresponds to one or more characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics that match one or more characteristics of the second plurality of characteristics and the fourth characteristic. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that a plurality of respective activities of the plurality of activities have respective characteristics that match the second plurality of characteristics; and 
 ranking each activity of the plurality of respective activities of the received plurality of activities based on a number of characteristics of each activity of the plurality of respective activities of the plurality of activities that match the second plurality of characteristics, 
 wherein generating for display the media content recommendation comprises generating for display a media content recommendation for a highest ranked activity. 
 
     
     
       10. An apparatus, comprising:
 control circuitry; and 
 at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the control circuitry, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
 receive a plurality of activities, wherein each activity of the plurality of activities occurs at a geographic location and time; 
 retrieve a first plurality of characteristics of a first activity of the received plurality of activities; 
 determine that a media asset is currently being displayed, wherein the media asset is associated with a second plurality of characteristics; 
 determine a number of characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics, wherein the number of characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics corresponds to one or more characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics that match one or more characteristics of the second plurality of characteristics; 
 compare the number to a threshold; 
 determine, based on comparing the number to the threshold, that the number exceeds the threshold; and 
 in response to determining that the number exceeds the threshold:
 determine a media content recommendation, wherein the media content recommendation is associated with a third plurality of characteristics and at least one characteristic of the third plurality of characteristics matches a characteristic that the first plurality of characteristics and the second plurality of characteristics have in common; and 
 generate for display the media content recommendation. 
 
 
 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of activities is associated with a profile of a user. 
     
     
       12. The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the apparatus if further caused, when determining that a media asset is currently being displayed, to:
 receive a selection of the media asset, wherein the media selection is associated with an account; and 
 determine that that account is related to the profile of the user. 
 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the apparatus is caused to determine the number of characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics is in response to determining that the account is related to the profile of the user. 
     
     
       14. The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the apparatus is further caused, when receiving the plurality of activities, to:
 identify a plurality of non-media guidance applications that are associated with a profile of a user; 
 query each non-media guidance application of the plurality of non-media guidance applications for information relating to the plurality of activities; 
 receive, in response to the querying, information about an activity of the plurality of activities that the user has planned to participate in; and 
 add the information to the plurality of activities. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the apparatus is further caused, when querying each non-media guidance application, to query at least one of planning or conducting a travel activity, attendance at an event, content browsing, or messaging communications. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the apparatus is further caused, when determining that the media asset is currently being displayed, to receive a fourth characteristic associated with a portion of the media asset. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16 , wherein the number of characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics corresponds to one or more characteristics of the first plurality of characteristics that match one or more characteristics of the second plurality of characteristics and the fourth characteristic. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
 determine that a plurality of respective activities of the plurality of activities have respective characteristics that match the second plurality of characteristics; and 
 rank each activity of the plurality of respective activities of the received plurality of activities based on a number of characteristics of each activity of the plurality of respective activities of the plurality of activities that match the second plurality of characteristics, wherein the media content recommendation is for a highest ranked activity.